Senior Technical Designer, Combat | Unannounced Project - Irvine, CA

Blizzard Entertainment • Irvine, CA

1d • $82,240 - $152,160 • Hybrid

About The Position

We are looking for a Senior Technical Designer, Combat to help craft a new, unannounced game for Blizzard. As a key member of the development team, you will be responsible for designing and implementing engaging combat encounters, enemy behaviors, and gameplay systems that create clear, responsive, and satisfying experiences for players. You are comfortable operating in a dynamic environment, navigating fluid deadlines and changing priorities with purpose.
This role is anticipated to be a hybrid work position, with some work on-site and some work from home. The potential home studio for this role is Irvine, CA.

Requirements

• 8+ years of experience in technical design, combat design, systems design, or a closely related game development discipline.
• Experience contributing to at least one shipped game, including ownership of gameplay systems, combat encounters, enemy behaviors, gameplay prototypes, or related features.
• Strong scripting experience for game development, with the ability to independently build complex gameplay behaviors, encounters, and prototypes.
• Experience implementing, tuning, and balancing combat systems, abilities, enemy behaviors, and progression mechanics.
• Proven ability to work collaboratively within teams and foster productive partnerships across engineering, art, design, production, and other disciplines.
• Demonstrated ability to inspire colleagues through an enthusiastic approach to game development and a commitment to continuous improvement of core skills.
• Ability to take initiative and manage responsibilities independently, demonstrating strong ownership and accountability.
• Experience working with modern game engines and development tools.
• Strong understanding of combat readability, player feedback, pacing, encounter design, and gameplay iteration.
• Clear communication skills with the ability to convey technical and design concepts to a broad range of development partners.
• Experienced and knowledgeable player of a wide range of games, with the ability to apply that expertise to gameplay design and development decisions.
• Comfortable operating in a dynamic environment while navigating fluid deadlines and changing priorities with purpose.

Nice To Haves

• Proficiency with visual scripting tools such as Unreal Engine Blueprint.
• Strong understanding of combat systems, enemy behaviors, Combat AI, behavior trees, and encounter scripting.
• Demonstrated success designing combat systems for action-oriented games.
• Knowledge of implementing engaging melee and ranged enemy combat behaviors.
• Ability to mentor, support, and provide technical guidance to fellow designers.
• Shipped at least one game for PC, Xbox, and/or PlayStation platforms.
• Proven ability to collaborate effectively across disciplines throughout all phases of game development.
• Track record of creating tools or workflows that improve team efficiency and iteration speed.

Responsibilities

• Design and implement combat encounters, enemy behaviors, and supporting gameplay systems.
• Create, tune, and iterate on combat mechanics, attacks, abilities, and enemy attributes that deliver engaging and responsive gameplay experiences.
• Develop and improve tools, workflows, and pipelines that enable efficient creation and iteration of combat encounters and gameplay systems.
• Collaborate closely with engineering, art, design, and production partners to bring gameplay features from concept through implementation and polish.
• Partner with level designers to ensure combat spaces support readability, pacing, navigation, and player understanding.
• Prototype gameplay systems and mechanics through scripting and technical design tools.
• Identify workflow, tooling, and pipeline opportunities that improve development efficiency and game quality.
• Create clear and actionable documentation that communicates design intent, implementation details, and system functionality.
• Support the continued evolution of combat design practices through feedback, collaboration, and knowledge sharing.
• Contribute to the creation of compelling combat experiences that reinforce player engagement and long-term gameplay satisfaction.

Benefits

• Medical, dental, vision, health savings account or health reimbursement account, healthcare spending accounts, dependent care spending accounts, life and AD&D insurance, disability insurance
• 401(k) with Company match, tuition reimbursement, charitable donation matching
• Paid holidays and vacation, paid sick time, floating holidays, compassion and bereavement leaves, parental leave
• Mental health & wellbeing programs, fitness programs, free and discounted games, and a variety of other voluntary benefit programs like supplemental life & disability, legal service, ID protection, rental insurance, and others
• Relocation assistance

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Senior
• Education Level: No Education Listed